England captain Joe Root continued his mastery over spinners on the sub-continent, reaching a second consecutive hundred together with his unbeaten 137 within the second check serving to the vacationers attain 252 for six at tea on day three Sunday.
England nonetheless trailed by 129 runs after the house facet was 381 all out in its first innings.
Root, who had posted his nineteenth profession check hundred earlier than lunch, additionally handed Kevin Pietersen’s tally of 8,181 check runs to grow to be England’s fifth highest run getter within the five-day format.
Root tallied a double hundred within the first check that England received by seven wickets.
England batsmen have struggled towards Sri Lanka’s spin however Root has remained untroubled.
Root’s plans towards spin appeared easy: for full deliveries, defend on the again foot and play the sweep for ones that have been quick.
Sri Lanka positioned three fielders within the boundary to chop off the sweep shot, however Root saved discovering gaps.
He shared a 97-run stand for the fifth wicket with Jos Buttler, who introduced up his 18th check half-century after chopping Dilruwan Perera for 4.
He was dismissed for 55 as Sri Lanka reviewed a choice to provide debutant Ramesh Mendis his maiden check wicket.
Buttler had tried a reverse sweep however ended up edging the ball to his boot and the quick leg fielder Oshada Fernando snapped up the catch.
Sam Curran survived a leg earlier than shout off Perera and later in the identical over deposited one for six over mid-wicket.
In the final over earlier than tea, Lasith Embuldeniya, who was given the brand new ball from the City End had Curran caught at slip to finish a five-wicket haul, his third in checks.
